This invention relates to refrigerators, and more particularly to an improved mechanism for supporting the conduits supplying utilities to a door mounted dispenser.
For many years refrigerators, particularly refrigerator/freezer type refrigerators, have included door mounted dispensing mechanisms. In most such refrigerators the conduits to carry electric power and water to the dispenser were routed through the hinge mounting the door to the cabinet. This obviated the need for the conduits to travel in a longitudinal direction and simplified any problems as the door rotated about the hinge through which the conduits were directed. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,089,202-Pulaski; 3,429,140-White and 4,543,800-Mawby et al disclose refrigerators with various mechanisms for directing electric conductors and/or water conduits through the door hinge.
More recently some refrigerator have included "outboard" hinges, in which the pivot point is outside the cross sectional area of the door. This enables the user to mount the refrigerator with its front even with adjacent cabinets and still fully open the door, even if there is a thick decorative trim on the front of the door. However, utility conduits cannot be directed through the hinge pin as it is outside the door. U.S. Pat. No. 4,912,942-Katterhenry et al describes one mechanism for carrying the utility conduits to such a door. The Katterhenry mechanism is time consuming and unwieldy to assemble as one end of its tube must be threaded through a small guide opening provided on the cabinet and the other end of the tube must be rotatably joined to a fitting provided on the door.
The present invention is intended to overcome one or more of the problems of the prior art.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a refrigerator with an improved mechanism for carrying dispenser utility conduits to the door.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a mechanism that is simple and easy to install and does not require a joint or mechanical connection with the door.